Item Synthesis... really?

[Temmy]

Item synthesis was pretty much the main reason why I quit PSU after 2 months, after playing PSO since it came out. (That and PP instead of TP)

I know it's "drastically" changed but I'll only be happy if it's an alternative to finding sweet rare items from enemies. The idea of materials dropping from enemies rather than a rare gun makes me sick.

I just went from super excited to realizing Phantasy Star Zero is all I'll get that's like PSO.

[Zarode]

If they do it right, you won't be complaining. I'd rather it be something like Reforging from World of Warcraft.

Found a weapon but it doesn't have enough ATA to suit your needs? Take it back to your Partner Machine and have it reworked. It costs materials and meseta to do, making it rather expensive, but worth while in the end for the right weapons.

I dunno, I don't find synthesis all that bad, its when random elements come into play that it becomes a chore. Thanks PM, I totally wanted a 2% ice weapon!

[Temmy]

I agree with you, but you put a conditional... "if they do it right."

I hope they do it right, because like many people here, PSO is my favorite game and PSU was meteor smashing into my childhood memories. PSU wasn't a bad game but it's not PSO and I thought it was going to be, and thus I was seriously disappointed.

[Kent]

If they do it right, you won't be complaining. I'd rather it be something like Reforging from World of Warcraft.

Found a weapon but it doesn't have enough ATA to suit your needs? Take it back to your Partner Machine and have it reworked. It costs materials and meseta to do, making it rather expensive, but worth while in the end for the right weapons.

I was thinking about how some form of equipment customization might be able to work in a game like this. PSO, at its core, is a dungeon-crawling, loot-hunting game, where the core drives to go forward are the flow of EXP toward character advancement and the chances to find rare and useful items.

People like customization, but the synthesis-heavy approach taken with PSU is ham-fisted at best (and not really any customization at all, really), so I was thinking: What if equipment customization came solely in the form of adding attachments to equipment?

By that, I mean that every weapon, frame or barrier in the game would have slots for units, similar to how frames/armor already work in PSO - however, things like barriers and weapons may only have one or two, and would accept a very different type of unit into them. Weapon-based units would have things that change weapons in a more fundamental manner than simply providing stat boosts (which would be reserved for frames generally). Depending on how things like gun combat are handled, items such as scopes or stabilizers might be potential attachments uniquely for guns, which may have a secondary attachment slot to allow for such things.

Some examples, just to drive the idea home: Weapon attachments may increase damage dealt on a critical hit, extend the range of the weapon's blade(s)/bullets slightly, increase/decrease the number of projectiles fired (with things like shotguns) or number of targets hit (with things like slicers) at a penalty/benefit of attack power, or add a greater flinch to attacks dealt from behind. Barriers might give bonus resistances to status effects, give a chance to partially block technique damage, or restore HP or TP whenever an attack is successfully blocked.

Things like that - things that actually change the functionality of the item slightly, and generally give them a net benefit or circumstantial benefit over using an unmodified item. Whether or not these attachments can be separated from the item after application is a tough call, but it would make sense (as with armor units) that they be freely interchangable.

The most obvious benefits of such a system would be that people have a whole bunch more loot they can find, and they're able to use this to further customize exactly how they want to play their character. I think such a system would have a lot of potential to make for some very interesting combinations.

[Mike]

I don't think having materials is too bad of an idea as long as you don't need to wait three hours for something that turns out to be an Okiku Doll instead of that 9 star sword you were expecting. Something like White Knight Chronicles' frog forges maybe. It's way better than a little robot who will occasionally give you junk anyways.

[AlexCraig]

I wouldn't mind synthesis items. Something like in Fallout 3 or New Vegas wouldn't be bad, to me.

[ThEoRy]

People like customization, but the synthesis-heavy approach taken with PSU is ham-fisted at best (and not really any customization at all, really), so I was thinking: What if equipment customization came solely in the form of adding attachments to equipment?

By that, I mean that every weapon, frame or barrier in the game would have slots for units, similar to how frames/armor already work in PSO

Oh you mean like how Too Human is? I agree completely. Up to four slots in six pieces of armor and two weapons for a total of 32 slots. Having a full custom set in Too Human is truly awesome and gives you a great sense of accomplishment. You get a good feeling of ownership over your character, it's like you make a better connection. Not to mention it makes you a total badass!

[HeartBreak301]

If only Too Human had better gameplay, could have been great.

[Anon_Fire]

It should be something like in Star Ocean: The Last Hope

["En"]

It should be something like in Star Ocean: The Last Hope

Agreed. I remember you and I discussed this on MSN.

Of all the videogames I've played, Star Ocean has had one of the "better" item synthesis systems that I've seen. If PSO2 were to adopt a system along those lines, I would be beyond happy. Mostly, though, I'm looking for it to be, as Temmy stated, an alternative to rare hunting, not a full replacement. Or, have it improve upon an already existant piece of equipment, as was suggested by most of the posters before me.

I'll admit, Item Synthesis was a huge turn-off for me when I played PSU. In the time I did spend in PSU, I ignored synthesis as much as humanly possible. Rather than synthesizing gear, I found myself constantly selling materials and boards and buying the equip I sought from another player. As a result, I never had spectacular weapon percents.